The first hired armed cutter Nile was of 13682⁄94 tons (burthen). She carried ten 12-pounder carronades and two 6-pounder bow guns. Her contract ran from 29 March 1799 to 21 November 1801.[1] From at least May her commander was Lieutenant George Argles.
On 17 November, Captain Sir Richard Strachan in Captain chased a French convoy in to the Morbihan where it sheltered under the protection of shore batteries and the 20-gun corvette Réolaise. Lieutenant Argles skillful maneuvered Nile, as the first British vessel up, and kept the corvette from the north shore.[2]Magicienne was then able to force the corvette onto the shore at Port Navale, though she got off again.[3] The hired armed cutter Suworow then towed in four boats with Lieutenant Hennah of Captain and a cutting-out party of seamen and marines. Nile and the hired armed cutter Lurcher towed in four more boats from Magicienne. Although the cutting-out party landed under heavy fire of grape and musketry, it was able to set the corvette on fire; shortly thereafter she blew up. Only one British seaman, a crewman from Suworow, was killed; seven men from Captain were wounded.[4] However, Suworow's sails and rigging were so badly cut up that Captain had to tow her.[5]Nile captured a merchant vessel that was then burnt.[2]
Nile and Argeles captured the brig Assistance, A.H. Stark, master, on 12 October 1800.[6] This was the Swedish brig Assistansen, Alex Stark, master, that had been sailing from Bayonne to Stockholm with a cargo of rosin and that Nile brought into Plymouth on 22 October.[7]
About three weeks later, on 13 November, Nile and Lurcher captured the French brig Prothee.[8] Five days later they captured a French privateer brig of 14 guns.[9]
On 7 December, Nile discovered a convoy of 15 or 16 small vessels coming round the point of Croisic near the mouth of the river Vilaine in Quiberon Bay.[10]Lurcher joined Nile and together the two cutters captured or destroyed nine vessels at a cost of only one man wounded on Lurcher, despite fire from shore batteries. The four largest were decked and Argles believed that they could be sailed back to England. The others were not.[10] The four largest had been sailing from Boulogne to Brest with cargoes of brandy and wine. They were:
Aimable François, of 55 tons, Geldo Bouligan, master;
Maria Joseph, of 48 tons, Pierre Midago, master;
St Pierre, of 39 tons, Pierre Hoeck, master; and lastly,
Notre Dame De Consolation, of 36 tons, Clouarie, master.
On 8 February 1801 Nile came into Plymouth from Quiberon with the officers of Requin, which had wrecked there, with no loss of life. However, the French had captured 20 of her men when they reached shore. Nile went in with a flag of truce to ascertain their fate. Excellent rescued those crew members of Requin that the French hadn't captured.[11]
Earlier during this cruise, Lieutenant Argles and Nile drove on shore a cutter of sixteen 12-pounders and a lugger of twelve 9-pounders. Heavy fire from shore batteries prevented Nile from recovering them. At high tide the French were able to recover the two vessels, though fire from Nile had damaged them badly, and take them into Morbihan.[11]
Around this time Argeles received promotion to the rank of Commander. Lieutenant T. Newton replaced him in command of Nile.[12] On 13 May Newton brought Nile into Plymouth after a two-hour battle with a French 16-cutter in Douarnenez Bay. The French vessel, which had a large number of soldiers aboard, eventually took refuge under the guns of a large shore battery. Both vessels were much damaged and Nile suffered one man wounded. Newton believed that the French cutter had tried to disable Nile's rigging so that it could come up with and take her by boarding.[13]
Nile shared with Confiance, Stork, and the hired armed cutter Flirt in the proceeds of the capture of San Pedro D'Alcantare.[14]San Pedro D'Alcantare was captured on 27 July 1801. On the same day Nile also captured Egalité.[15]
In August 1801, Nile's boats attempted to cut out a French brig sheltering in Douarnenez Bay Bay. A musket shot killed Newton and the fire from shore batteries was so intense that the boats withdrew, giving up their attempt.[16]
On 19 November 1801 Nile departed Torbay for Plymouth to be paid off.
1803
Nile may have been the cutter Nile, of 135 tons (bm), 30 men, and twelve 6 & 12-pounder guns, whose master, Solomon Bellevill jnr., received a letter of marque on 11 June 1803.[17]
In August the privateer Success, of Jersey, and the cutter Nile, of Hastings, captured Union, Pancen, master. Union had been sailing from Cayenne to France. Union was off Hastings by 21 August.[18][19]
Second hired armed cutter Nile
The second hired armed cutter Nile had a burthen of 16620⁄94 tons. She carried ten 12-pounder carronades and two 6-pounder bow guns. Her contract ran from 30 May 1804 to 1 March 1805. In 1804 she was renamed Phyllis. In 1806 she resumed the name Nile and served a second contract, this time from 18 February 1806 to 12 December 1806.[20]
1804:Nile, under the command of Lieutenant John Nugent, recaptured several vessels in 1804: Excellent (21 June), Mary of Newcastle (6 July), and Providence (7 July).[21]Excellent, Davis, master, had been sailing from Carmarthen to London when a French privateer captured her. After Nile recaptured her, Nile sent her into Ramsgate.[22] A French privateer had captured Mary, which had been sailing from Emsworth to Hull, and Providence, Lownsbro, master, which had been sailing from Jersey to Petersburg. Nile, operating out of Hastings, had recaptured them near Bordeaux.[23]
On 23 July Nile recaptured Albion.[24] Then on 3 September Nile captured Nostra Senora del Bon Voiage.[25]
While in command of Nile, Nugent chased a praam on shore off Fecamp, recaptured five brigs, and drove on shore and destroyed, off St. Valery, the French lugger Etoile.[26]
1806: On the evening of 14 January 1806 two French privateers anchored themselves off the harbour at Dover. The Sea Fencibles went to man their batteries, only to have sentinels turn them away. The commanding general, Lord Forbes, was away at Canterbury and the sentinels would not permit the Fencibles to proceed without his permission.[27] At the same time Nile was in the harbour, and under the command of Thomas Johnson. A concerned citizen asked him why he did not set out to chase them away. The Times quoted him as saying:
My brave commander is gone on another station, but I expect orders to sail very soon, when be assured the cutter shall not disgrace her name
—Thomas Johnson, quoted in The Times (20 January 1806), & Grocott[27]
The Times went on to comment:
The Nile is manned by a very brave set, who although they may not have particularly attended to the revenue of the country, would not suffer her honour to be tarnished; and when they have smuggled spirits to quaff the king's health would draw their swords and protect him with their lives.
A few months later Nile captured the American brig Truxton on 20 April.[28][lower-alpha 1] Then she captured the French chasse mareeElizabeth 30 June and the sloop Susannah Margaretta on 14 July.[30][lower-alpha 2]
This may be the cutter Nile that the Royal Navy purchased and registered on 3 November 1806.
Notes
↑ The share of the prize money for a petty officer was £10 7s 9d; the share of an able seaman was £1 18s 7d.[29]
↑ The share of the prize money for a petty officer was £25 15s 2d; the share of an able seaman was £4 12s 8d.[31]
HMS Pickle was a topsail schooner of the Royal Navy. She was originally a civilian vessel named Sting, of six guns, that Lord Hugh Seymour purchased to use as a tender on the Jamaica station. Pickle was at the Battle of Trafalgar, and though she was too small to take part in the fighting, Pickle was the first ship to bring the news of Nelson's victory to Great Britain. She also participated in a notable single-ship action when she captured the French privateer Favorite in 1807. Pickle was wrecked in 1808, but without loss of life.
Révolutionnaire, was a 40-gun Seine-class frigate of the French Navy, launched in May 1794. The British captured her in October 1794 and she went on to serve with the Royal Navy until she was broken up in 1822. During this service Revolutionnaire took part in numerous actions, including three for which the Admiralty would in 1847 award clasps to the Naval General Service Medal, and captured several privateers and merchant vessels.
HMS Atalante was a 16-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was formerly the French Atalante, captured in 1797. She served with the British during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and was wrecked in 1807.
During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars the British Royal Navy made use of hired armed vessels, one of which was His Majesty's hired armed cutter Nimrod. Three such vessels are recorded, but the descriptions of these vessels and the dates of their service are such that they may well represent one vessel under successive contracts. The vessel or vessels cruised, blockaded, carried despatches, and performed reconnaissance.
The hired armed cutter Black Joke was a cutter that served the Royal Navy from 12 January 1795 to 19 October 1801. In 1799 she was renamed Suworow, and under that name she captured numerous prizes before she was paid off after the Treaty of Amiens.
The Royal Navy used several vessels that were described as His Majesty's hired armed cutter King George. Some of these may have been the same vessel on repeat contract.
His Majesty's Hired armed cutter Lurcher was a 12-gun cutter that served the Royal Navy from 15 August 1795 until 15 January 1801 when a French privateer captured her in the Channel.
His Majesty's hired armed cutter Courier appears twice in the records of the British Royal Navy. The size and armament suggests that both contracts could represent the same vessel, but other information indicates that the second Courier had been captured from the French in the West Indies. On the first contract the captain and crew were awarded clasps to the Naval General Service Medal, one for a boat action and one for a single ship action in which they distinguished themselves.
During the period of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, there were two or three vessels known as His Majesty's hired armed cutter Active that served the British Royal Navy. The reason for the uncertainty in the number is that the size of the vessels raises the possibility that the first and second may have been the same vessel.
HMS Cruizer was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Stephen Teague of Ipswich and launched in 1797. She was the first ship of the class, but there was a gap of 5 years between her launch and the ordering of the next batch in October 1803; by 1815 a total of 105 other vessels had been ordered to her design. She had an eventful wartime career, mostly in the North Sea, English Channel and the Baltic, and captured some 15 privateers and warships, and many merchant vessels. She also participated in several actions. She was laid up in 1813 and the Commissioners of the Navy sold her for breaking in 1819.
HMS Moucheron was a French privateer, built in 1799, that the British captured in 1801. The British government purchased her in 1802 for the Royal Navy. She foundered in 1807 in the Mediterranean without leaving a trace.
HMS Anacreon was a French privateer launched in 1798 that the Royal Navy captured in 1799 and took into service. She had a brief career in which she took some minor prizes and engaged two enemy vessels in an inconclusive action. She was sold in December 1802.
HMS Racoon was a brig-sloop built and launched in 1795. She served during the French Revolutionary Wars and in the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars. She had an active career under several captains, working essentially independently while capturing or destroying some 20 enemy privateers and naval vessels. Several of the captures involved engagements that resulted in casualties on Racoon as well as on her opponents. She was broken up early in 1806.
At least two vessels known as His Majesty's hired armed lugger Nile served the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. These may have been the same vessel on sequential contracts.
Two vessels have borne the designation, His Majesty's hired armed cutter Constitution. The first served the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. The second served briefly at the start of the Napoleonic Wars and was sunk in 1804. The two cutters are similar enough that may have been the same vessel; at this juncture it is impossible to know.
HMS Milbrook was one of six vessels built to an experimental design by Sir Samuel Bentham. After the Royal Navy took her into service in her decade-long career she took part in one notable single-ship action and captured several privateers and other vessels, all off the coast of Spain and Portugal. She was wrecked off the coast of Portugal in 1808.
Résistance was a 48-gun Vengeance-class frigate of the French Navy. HMS St Fiorenzo captured her in 1797 and the Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Fisgard. She was sold in 1814.
The French brig Suffisante was launched in 1793 for the French Navy. In 1795 the Royal Navy captured her and took her into service under her existing name. HMS Suffisante captured seven privateers during her career, as well as recapturing some British merchantmen and capturing a number of prizes, some of them valuable. She was lost in December 1803 when she grounded in poor weather in Cork harbour.
His Majesty's hired armed schooner Lady Charlotte served the British Royal Navy on contract between 28 October 1799 and 28 October 1801. She had a burthen of 120 85⁄94 tons (bm), and was armed with twelve 12-pounder carronades. As a hired armed vessel she captured several privateers and recaptured a number of British merchant vessels. After her service with the Royal Navy, she apparently sailed as a letter of marque until the French captured her in 1806.
Three hired armed cutters named Earl Spencer served the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary or Napoleonic Wars. Two, both cutters, served at the same time between 1799 and 1801. A third, variously referred to as a tender or cutter, served from 1803 to 1814.
References
Allen, Joseph (1853). The New Navy List and General Record of the Services of Officers of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. Parker, Furnivall, and Parker..
Grocott, Terence (1997). Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary & Napoleonic Eras. London: Chatham. ISBN1861760302.
Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN978-1-86176-246-7.
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